Congrats, You've Made It To Election Day! Here's What To Expect

It has been one year, seven months, and sixteen days since the first major candidate announced his run for president, plunging us all into this eternal, stressful, and surreal campaign season. Today*, it ends.

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*Election ending today not guaranteed. 😬

It'll be a long day and night. Here's the deal:

Here's what you need to know about voting

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* Use our guide to find your polling place and any requirements. Thirteen states — Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, New York, and Virginia — don't have early voting, and most of those people will hit the voting booths for the first time today.

* And here's a neat gizmo BuzzFeed News made to determine if your county can predict the election outcome. 🔮

The map. The Electoral College. Choose your own adventure.

Ben King / BuzzFeed News

BuzzFeed News is doing something a bit unconventional this year: We're being upfront about the states that Trump and Clinton are expected to win based on voting history and polling. A candidate needs 270 Electoral College votes to win — the above map pretty much shows where they're starting.

BuzzFeed News will be watching a few of the all-important swing states tonight, but these four will be key to the evening: Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. If Clinton takes Florida, she'll likely be in very good shape. If Trump wins, that's a good indicator we'll have a close race.

When should you start paying attention? (Or, what time should your election-watch party start?)

* At 6 p.m. ET, we are off to the races: The first polls close in Kansas.

* At 7:30 p.m. ET, polls in Ohio and North Carolina close.

* Then, at 8 p.m. ET, a massive chunk of states wrap up, including Florida, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

A winner will be declared in a bunch of states as soon as their polls close. In others, it may take a bit longer. In the most contested states it'll likely take several hours. Here's a handy map showing 2016 state poll closing times compared with when the Associated Press declared winners in those states in 2012:

Here are some things to look out for:

* Evan McMullin is an Independent candidate who is campaigning hard in Utah. If he were to win there, it'd be the first time a third-party candidate won a state since 1968.

* Clinton has been campaigning in some traditionally red states — like Arizona — in hopes she can flip them.

* There's been a lot of talk about hackers somehow infiltrating electronic voting booths. That's very unlikely. US officials are more worried about the media being hacked, honestly.

* Trump has urged people to monitor polling places around the country — and some militant groups are taking up the call and are urging members to prepare for violence on Election Day.

* And there's a lot of questions about how Trump would handle things if he lost: He's called the election rigged and has said he'll support the winner only in very qualified terms. He said at a debate he's leaving us all in "suspense."

Last but not least: We've got you covered today.

BuzzFeed News

* Starting at 9 a.m., we'll give you an opportunity to describe your feelings about the election in emojis — and we'll display the results on Twitter, Facebook, and our homepage.

* At 6 p.m. ET, we'll kick off our live election night show on Twitter! You can watch it on desktop or on mobile. It'll be awesome, we promise.

* And keep track of every development with our Live Updates post, our Twitter feed, and our Facebook feed.

Tom Namako is the head of breaking news for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York. Contact this editor at tom.namako@buzzfeed.com.